Remember the scandals back in the 1980s over the Pentagon’s $435 hammers and $640 toilet seats?
Now Hawaii apparently has it’s own entry in the same category of overpriced items.
A state’s Department of Defense contract for laundry services apparently had it paying $107 for the once-a-week washing of the two sheets, pillow case, and blanket from each bed at its Youth Challenge Academy. Multiply that by 98 beds and it comes to a hefty $10,500 per week laundry bill.
DOD says it was a mistake caused by ambiguity in the contract language.
The company involved is not identified.
The contract for laundry services was originally awarded on February 19, 2010. But the state thought the $10,500 bid was for a year of laundry, while the bidding company thought it was the weekly cost, according to a request for an exemption from standard procurement requirements filed in May when the DOD sought to rescind and rebid the contract.
“Due to price of contract interpretated (sic) by vendor as a weekly amount and the department’s interpretation of contract price as an annual amount, an Order to Stop Work notice has been issued to stop this exorbitant cost to the State.
It is not clear how much was paid out at this “exorbitant” rate before the “stop work” notice was issued and payments were halted, although the exemption request to the State Procurement Office was not submitted until May 19.
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Public knowledge of the name of the company involved, the personnel involved, prosecution/ and/or a repayment of overcharges is imperitive in a democracy!
Great work, Ian.
Since the request for exemption was turned down by the Chief Procurement Officer, this leaves the question also of who did the laundry thereafter (after May 24) and how much was paid for it.
Shows what a bad idea these proposed procurement exemption “reforms” are. The added eyballs of procurment proceedures alone might have caught it.
Actually, the flawed contract was done via the electronic procurement system.
Gives new meaning to the phrase “getting taken to the cleaners.”
Or is it same old, same old?
There aren’t that many laundry outfits. How can we find out and trace the ‘connections’? Is it Young Laundry?
Shouldn’t the Youth Challenge kids be washing their own linens? I’m pretty sure they have a laundry facility there.
It’s too bad you choose to uncritically repeat the old distortions about the hammers and toilet seats. Those were political manipulations, and much like the McDonald’s hot coffee lawsuit, are much less outrageous than the meme would have you believe.
Thanks. It would be useful if you could suggest some resources for readers to document your point.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+case+for+the+$435+hammer-a04619906
http://news.cnet.com/2009-1009_3-5404307.html
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985-11-28/news/8503220300_1_lockheed-spokesman-rich-stadler-submarine-hunting-aircraft-covers
Note the parties of the politicians who made political hay out of this. It’s not a mistake that such a false impression was used to such effect that it affected national policy. There is a pattern of this behavior from that party.
FLeeced, I had the same question. So I fired off a fax on Sunday to ask. Actually, I asked for a copy of the unredacted contract and records of payments.
On hammers and toilet seats, I was installing some data equipment at Camp Casey in the ’80s and needed to borrow a screwdriver. Someone got me a screwdriver, but the blade was warped because it had probably been used to pry something open and got bent. So I took it outside and rubbed it on the concrete sidewalk to straighten it. After about 5 minutes it was flat again and I could use it.
A soldier informed me that I had probably taken off about $200 of metal at the going price for a screwdriver. Of course he was joking. ??
Our government is constantly being overcharged for products and services. In this case I have to wonder who the bid went to..someones brother, mother, cousin’s business? I often traveled for my job when I was with the local government and would have my wife and often my kids meet me and we’d have an extended trip. My ticket would cost $1200 and my wife would book on orbitz or other online site and pay $580 for the same ticket. Just because a company is a government contractor does not mean we are getting the best value for the dollar spent.
its all political b.s., who can pay to play.
I have a guess. Let’s see what we can find.
The vendor was….
Leeward Roofing, Waianae, HI.
Yes, a roofing company doing laundry for the DOD.
I sent the info to Ian should he want to continue investigating. The DOD was very quick to respond to my request for the contract and invoices–they have asked the AGs office for advice, they said. In the meantime, they sent the Notice of Award, which I do find confusing. I’ll leave it at this for the moment. Perhaps Ian has an idea of what the Notice implies. If it implies what I think it implies, we should all be in the laundry business.